Undue Influence
by Arraydesign
Summary: “This is what the media are talking about when they start going on about undue influence and the blondes in the East Wing.” - J. Lyman


Title: **Undue Influence**** 1/1**

Summary: "This is what the media are talking about when they start going on about undue influence and the blondes in the East Wing"

Disclaimers: Not mine. Not at all.

Feedback: please oh please

**Undue Influence**

So I'm leaning against the doorframe of our bedroom, drinking coffee and watching Donna get dressed, which is my second favorite thing to do in the morning, and she's talking about something or other, but truthfully I'm not listening, I'm just enjoying the view, when she says, "Josh? …. Joshua? ….. Josh are you listening to me?"

"Uh, yeah." I reply.

"Then look at my face."

Slowly I raise my eyes.

"You haven't heard a word I've said!" she accuses.

"Sure I did!" I'm scrambling here.

"So?"

"Uhh…" I give her my best Bambi look but I know I'm busted.

"I am so getting dressed in the closet from now on!"

"No, no, no….I'm listening I swear….." And then I realize what she's putting on. Oh my God… "Uh… are you wearing that to work?"

"Yeah, why?"

"Um don't you think it's a little…"

"It's a sweater Josh."

It is in fact a pinky orange sweater which I happen to know feels like kittens, with a neck line that….and… oh never mind…. I try to recover.

"Yeah, um… it fits really well."

"Josh I've got a camisole on underneath."

Yeah, I can see that too.

"You don't think you'll be hot?"

She stops for a moment and looks at me with those wide blue eyes.

"I'm hoping to be," she deadpans.

Okay, that was not the answer I was looking for. I swallow hard because I'm not going to be the kind of guy who tells his woman what to wear. My woman… hmm…. that's something I should probably just think in my mind and not say out loud. I can almost feel C.J. smacking the back of my head.

Donna stops for a moment to take the coffee out of my hand and drink some of it before she kisses me much too briefly on the lips and heads out to the kitchen to find a cup for herself.

"I've got an important meeting today," she says as I trail behind her.

"With whom?" I ask casually, so I'll know who to keep an eye on later.

"With some jackass in the West Wing who doesn't want the early childhood nutrition amendment added to the Medicare bill."

"Donna, we can't keep hanging things on this bill like it's some kind of Christmas tree! It's not…." I trail to a stop because she's got that 'wait for it' look in her eyes. Oh God…

"It's me isn't it. The meeting's with me."

She smiles and nods. "Your one o'clock lunch."

She opens the fridge and pulls out some fruit.

"Did you have any breakfast?" she asks.

"No, I was just going to wait and have…"

"A muffin? Not a good choice Josh." She starts cutting a cantaloupe into chunks and I lean against the fridge and steal pieces of it out of the bowl she's dropping it into.

"I told Sam to take all those meetings," I mutter.

She turns and gives me her 'Josh you're a moron but I love you anyway' look. I seem to be getting it a lot these days. Honestly I prefer the 'Josh you're so hot I don't think I can wait 'til later' look, but I'm pretty sure that one's off the agenda for this morning.

"Josh, Sam's already come on board."

"You know, I really don't like that phrase attached to his name coming from your lips!"

She just laughs then starts hulling some strawberries, and dropping them into the bowl. I swipe pieces of fruit as I talk. I'm pretty sure that's what she wants me to do. I mean there's way too much there for one person.

"It's an important bill. And it's ready to roll. If we add more spending we'll start losing support. Right now the Democrats like it where it is. We can get this without a lot of trouble, and I'd really like a trouble free bill here, so we can demonstrate that even though we're still in Kazakhstan we can still get things done here at home. "

She turns to me. "We could come home for lunch."

That makes me stop. "To discuss the bill?"

She takes a step towards me. "No, we probably won't talk about it at all."

Okay, so a scene just played out in my head that guarantees I'll have trouble focusing this morning. I take a deep breath…well, as deep as I can.

"So this here," I say as determinedly as I am able, "This is what the media are talking about when they start going on about undue influence and the blondes in the East Wing."

She widens her eyes, and drops all of the teasing that has fluttered around the edges of our conversation for the morning.

"I'm not trying to have any kind of influence. You're a good man Josh, and pretty soon you'll stop being pissed at the Republicans for having the idea and the First Lady for supporting it, and you'll recognize it for the good amendment that it is."

So I know I'm being managed, but how does she do that? Slice through all that deflection and expose that little kernel of truth? And this is what I miss most during the day. Don't get me wrong. I'd rather be the way we are now than the way we were then…I mean having a real life together, sleeping, eating, spending time, making out…lot's of making….God, sounds like some kind of a bad chick flick…and suddenly all I can hear is my mother's voice saying 'Stop stalling Josh. Why don't the two of you just get married and have a baby,' which doesn't seem like such a bad idea... except I like what we have now.. and it took such a long time to get here… and I just don't know if… which is when I realize that Donna's looking right at me, and I'm sure that every thought I have is playing across my face. She reaches out and takes hold of my tie as if she's about to straighten it, but instead she pulls me in and kisses me lightly.

"I know you, Josh. You'll make the right decision and do what's best. You've got all morning to brood. I figure by one o'clock you'll have come over from the dark side, and we won't have to meet at all."

I wonder just exactly how much of my mind she can read, and whether she's really talking about the bill or about us, as I grab her and pull her back so I can kiss her again. "But we will anyways, right?"

"Of course we will. The bill was just an excuse." Which is when I realize what the Santos' breakfast table conversation is likely to be, and I'm pretty sure I can guess the direction senior staff is going to go this morning too.

She wriggles out of my grasp and grabs her bag from the table, and her blazer from the back of the chair.

"Come on. You've got senior staff in half an hour, and I'm meeting Annabeth in forty five minutes. The media are wrong Josh. I don't persuade you to do anything. You do the right thing all on your own. I'm never going to try to convince you to do something if you really think it's wrong, or bad policy."

And that's the point. She never really does try to convince me of anything, she just seems to carry around some kind of bright light that shines into all the dark crevices of my reasoning. For Donna it's never about the victory, it's about what's right. It's about making me be right. It's about making this administration right. Like some kind of bellwether, or barometer… well I guess that's a little farfetched…. A little too romantic…you might even say I was in love…. What if I ask her and she says no? She wouldn't would she?

"Josh?"

"Yeah, I'm coming."

I grab my suit jacket and shrug into it as I pick up my back pack. I'm following her out the door before it occurs to me to ask, "We're still coming home for lunch, aren't we?" and the smile that she throws back over her shoulder makes me weak.

"Of course we are."

End


End file.
